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Height advantage helps Grafton in win over MPCG

In the tale of the tape, Mayville-Portland-Clifford-Galesburg didn't measure up.

Dalton Albrecht and Beau Feltman combined for 34 points Tuesday, leading Grafton past the Patriots 57-32 in the quarterfinals of the North Dakota Region 2 boys high school basketball tournament at Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.

May-Port-CG's tallest starter stands 6-foot-2 and plays guard. The Patriots struggled to defend around the basket against the 6-7 Albrecht and the 6-6 Feltman. "It hurts when we play against tall teams,'' MPCG coach Adam Edwards said. "Height is always a problem for us, especially when we play what basically is a five-guard lineup.''

Grafton took full advantage of that height advantage.

Albrecht scored 24 points. He reached a milestone in the third quarter with his 1,000th career points. Feltman added 10 points.

"I think our size definitely got to them,'' Grafton coach Riley Lillemoen said. "It came down to that. We were able to pound the ball inside.

"We feel they're two very good post players. We try to run our offense through them. And when we have a size advantage like that, it's really our focus.''

Grafton was never headed after scoring the game's first nine points.

The Spoilers led 20-7, 28-13 and 46-22 at the quarter stops. While the Spoilers' offense looked inside, the defense held May-Port-CG to its lowest point total of the season.

"We did a real good job of defending,'' Lillemoen said. "I was really happy with the pressure we had on their outside people. We usually had a hand in their shooters' faces. And they have 4-5 kids who can hit the outside shot.''

Matthew Odden's 13 points led the Patriots, who finished with a total of only 13 field goals.